Car coupler



G. P. RITTER May 29, r 1934.

CAR COUPLER Filed June 24, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2i %7 4 1a b A 0 W a 9 J 62 /fi%0 M, 7 H J a 9 G. P. RITTER May 29, 1934.

CAR COUPLER Filed June 24 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q 31::Wl

Patented May 29, 1934 CAR COUPLER Gilbert P. Ritter, Washington, D. 0., assignor to The McConway & Torley Company, Pittsburgh,

Pa, a corporation of Application June 24,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to car couplers of the type designed to execute lateral swinging movements when the cars with which they are associated pass around curves in a track.

The primary object of the invention is to construct a jointed car coupler of a rugged and simple nature which may be readily manufactured and whose parts are normally retained in assembled relation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a jointed car coupler having its parts so formed and related as to be suitable for use either with a standard draft yoke or with Farlow draft gear attachments.

- l adjacent follower of a draft gear and having a curved forward face which engages a correspondingly curved rear end of the coupler shank, the key seat member being movably mounted on the coupler shank so as to permit the latter to have a pivotal or swinging movement with respect thereto, and the said seat member and bearing block being retained in assembled relation by being connected to each other.

' There are other features of the invention pertaining to advantageous structural forms and relations of parts, as will hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings illustrating preferred forms of the invention:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, showing a car coupler embodying the invention connected to a draft gear through the instrinnentality of a standard yoke.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, showing a car coupler embodying the invention associated with draft gear attachments of the Farlow type.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the coupler, portions being shown in horizontal section.

Figure 4 is a detailed sectional view on the line 4-4 Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the coupler.

Figure 6 is a rear elevation of the coupler.

Figure '7 is a plan view of a modified form of jointed coupler embodying the invention.

Figure 8 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 7.

Figure 9 is a detailed View, partly in plan and partly in section on the line 99 Fig. 7.

Pennsylvania 1929, Serial No. 373,322

Figure 10 is a sectional view on the line 10-10 Fig. 7.

Figure 11 is a rear elevational view of the modified form of the invention.

Referrring to the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive, 1 indicates the shank portion of the car coupler and 2 is the bearing block member movably associated therewith. The coupler shank member is, as usual, provided at its forward end. with a head carrying a pivoted knuckle and its locking mechanism (not shown). The rear end of the coupler shank is cylindrically curved, as indicated at 3, and is also formed upon its interior with a curved bearing surface 4 concentric with the curved surface 3. The bearing block 2, whose rear face is adapted to engage the follower of a draft gear, is fashioned at its forward end with a concavely curved surface 6 which engages the correspondingly curved rear end 3 of the coupler member 1, while the forward curved surface a of the coupler shank member engages the correspondingly curved rear surface 7 of the member 8 forming a seat for a transversely extending key 9 adapted to connect the coupler to the draft gear. The rear end of the bearing block 2 is formed with a fiat face 10 adapted to have extended bearing contact with the forward face of the common type of follower 11 or with a follower 12 of the Farlow style. To enable the coupler to be employed in conjunction with this latter type of follower, which is provided with a forwardly extending tapering stud or projection 13, the bearing block 2 is centrally pierced by an aperture 14; The rear wall of the shank member 1 of the coupler is provided with a centrally disposed opening 15 and the key seat member 3 is fashioned with a rearwardly opening recess 16, the said open ings 14 and 15 and the recess 16 being adapted to receive the stud 13 of a follower block. To provide the necessary clearance for the stud 13 so as to allow the coupler member 1 to swing laterally or pivot with respect to the bearing block member 2 and the key seat 8, the stud receiving opening 15 is elongated horizontally transversely of the coupler, as indicated at 1'7.

The coupler member 1 is formed with a transversely extending slot 18 for receiving the key seat 8 and the key 9 connecting the coupler to the draft gear. As the key seat member is of greater vertical height than the key 9, the rear portion 19 of the slot 18 is suitably increased in height to accommodate the key seat member and permit the latter to be brought into assembled position.

The forward face of the member 8 is provided with a transversely extending seat or recess 20 for cooperating with the rear edge of the key 9, the said recess being in horizontal alignment with the narrower portion of the slot 18 in the coupler member 1. Formed integrally with the key seat member and extending rearwardly from the opposite ends thereof are arms or bars 21 constituting means for maintaining the bearing block 2 in operative relation to the coupler shank member 1. Each of the arms 21 is preferably of hooked form, being provided at its rear end with a lug 22 which fits into a corresponding recess 23 formed adjacent thereto in the bearing block 2. To provide clearance for the arms 21 so that the coupler shank member 1 may swing horizontally in service with respect to the bearing block and the key seat, the coupler shank member is provided on opposite sides at its rear end with channels 24 into which the arms 21 may move. In assembling the device the arms or extensions 21 of the key seat member 8 are spread or bent and then closed so as to cause their lugs 22 to be positioned in the recesses 23 of the bearing block 2. The bearing block is thus held in operative relation to the coupler shank member and to the key seat 8, being held from rearward movement by lugs 22 of the arms 21 and being supported against vertical displacement by embracing said arms immediately in advance of the lugs.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive and heretofore described is advantageous in that the bearing block 2 thereof well lends itself to being made by drop forging. This is desirable because the bearing block, although of relatively thin section in its central portion and while it is pierced for the reception of the stud 13 of a Farlow follower, must be capable of withstanding severe bufilng shocks. This form of the invention also has the advantage that if the bearing block 2 thereof is made of cast steel, it can be readily pressed or hammered in a die to effect the necessary accuracy of form and degree of smoothness. Moreover in this form of the invention the hearing area between the key seat 8 and the coupler shank, as well as the bearing area between the latter and the bearing block 2 is greater than that provided in the other form of the invention shown.

The modified embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures '7 to 11 inclusive differs substantially from the form heretofore described only in that the bars or arms by which the bearing block is connected to the key seat member are made integral with the former instead of with the latter. Accordingly, a brief description of the modified construction will suffice.

In this form of the invention the coupler shank member 25 is provided at its rear end with a cylindrically curved surface 26 for cooperating with the correspondingly curved forward face 2'7 of the bearing block 28. On the interior of the coupler shank member 25 is a curved hearing surface 29 which is concentric with the surface 26 and cooperates with the curved rear side 30 of the key seat member 31. As in the construction heretofore described, the forward edge of the member 31 is provided with a transversely extending recess 32 for cooperating with the rear edge of a coupler key 9, while the coupler shank member 25 is formed with a transversely extending slot 33 which is sufficiently wide at its forward end to receive the key 9 and is of increased width at its rear end to receive the key seat member 31.

Extending forwardly from the ends of the bearing block 28 on opposite sides of the coupler shank are arms or extensions 34 having inwardly projecting lugs 35 at their forward ends which overlap the forward face of the key seat member 31 above and below the key-receiving recess 32 thereof. The coupler shank member adjacent its rear end is suitably channeled, as at 36, to afford clearance for the arms 34 by which the bearing block and key seat are connected. To receive the stud 13 of a Farlow follower and to provide operating clearance therefor, the bearing block 28 and the rear wall of the coupler shank member 1 are centrally pierced at 3'7 and 38 respectively and the rear face of the key seat member is recessed as at 39, the apertures 37 and 38 and the recess 39 being of the character heretofore described.

It will be perceived that a jointed car coupler embodying this invention not only has the advantages of simplicity of form and ease of manufacture, but also constitutes a unit which may be shipped assembled ready for immediate application either to a draft yoke of standard form or to draft gear attachments of the Farlow type. It 105 will be perceived, moreover, that by piercing the bearing block and the rear wall of the coupler shank and by providing the key seat member with a recess, the stud of a Farlow follower, when projecting through said block and the shank member into said recess, serves as a means of preventing any substantial relative lateral shifting of the bearing block and key seat with respect to each other. It will also be recognized that because of the universality of its application to the standard draft yoke and to the Farlow draft gear attachments, a standard coupler may be substituted if desired for this special form of jointed coupler whenever repairs or renewals are to be made.

I claim:

A car coupler involving a shank portion having a rear end wall formed with concentric curved rear and forward surfaces and having channels at the outer sides thereof extending between said concentric surfaces, said shank portion being 25 provided with a slot in advance of said wall, a bearing block member having a curved forward face corresponding to and engaging the curved rear surface of said wall, and a key seat member positioned in said slot and having a curved rear 1 surface corresponding to and engaging the curved forward surface of said Wall, one of said members being provided with a plurality of arms integrally connected thereto and disposed in horizontal alinement on opposite sides of said shank, said arms being in horizontal alinement with said channels and being so arranged as to permit them to enter the respective channels upon angling of the coupler with respect to said arms, and each of said arms being provided with an inwardly extending lug having shouldered engagement with the other of said members to thereby retain said members in assembled relation to said shank portion of the coupler.

GILBERT P. BITTER. 

